The ERP Reckoning: Decades of Customization Could Block AI Value
CIO, Tuesday, September 15th, 2026
Clean-core ERP is being reframed as the price of admission to AI, but only about half of organizations are moving.
Years of ERP customization made sense when SAP or Oracle systems would not bend to how a factory ran shifts or a distributor priced products, but it quietly became one of the most expensive decisions companies never explicitly signed off on.
Sunlight Group's Angela Maragkopoulou tells leadership not to sell standardization to the board as technical cleanup but to frame it as the price of admission to AI.
The correction is not yet widespread: IDC research shows the share of organizations preferring a customized approach barely moved, from 52% in late 2024 to 51% by August 2025, which IDC's Mickey North Rizza calls a strategic minority move concentrated in large enterprises feeling technical-debt pain.